What Would Jane Do? (5)

Do we, women, really know our man, our gentlemen? I don't think so! Jane Austen put a lot of little comments in each book! 

Chapter V. Get to know your gentleman

What strange creatures brothers are! - Mansfield Park (1814)
The ladies here probably exchanged looks which meant, " men never know when things are dirty or not;" and the gentlemen perhaps thought each to himself, "women will have their little nonsense and needless cares." - Emma (1815)
A man does not recover from such devotion of the heart to such a woman! He ought not; he does not. - Persuasion (1817)
General benevolence, but not general friendship, made a man what he ought to be. - Emma (1815)
If there is anything disagreeable going on, men are always sure to get out of it. - Persuasion (1817)
With men he can be rational and unaffected,but when he has ladies to please, every feature works. - Emma (1815)
[He] is just the type of man... Whom everybody speaks well of, and nobody cares about; whom all are delighted to see, and nobody remembers to talk to. - Sense and Sensibility (1811)
Men of sense, whatever you may choose to say, do not want silly wives.- Emma (1815)
He thoroughly knows his own mind and acts up to his resolutions: an inestimable quality. - Mansfield Park (1814)
It would be mortifying to the feelings of many ladies, could they be made to understand how little the heart of man is affected by what is costly or new in their attire. _ Northanger Abbey (1917)
There certainly are not so many men of large fortune in the world, as there are pretty women to deserve them. - Mansfield park (1814)
One man's ways may be as good as another's by we all like our own best. - Persuasion (1817)
We all know him to be a proud, unpleasant sort of a man; but this would be nothing if you really liked him. - Pride and Prejudice (1813)
I could easily forgive his pride if he had not mortified mine.- Sense and Sensibility (1811)
You are mistaken, Mr.Darcy, if you suppose that the mode of your declaration affected me in any other way than as it spared me the concern which I might have felt in refusing you, had you behaved in a more gentleman-like manner.- Pride and Prejudice (1813)
Dare does not say that man forgets sooner than a woman, that his love has an earlier death.- Persuasion (1817)
From the first moment, I may almost say... I had not known you a month before I felt that  you were the last man in the world whom I could ever prevail on to marry.- Pride and Prejudice (1813)
That would be the greatest misfortune of all! To find a man agreeable whom one is determined to hate! Do not wish me such an evil. - Pride and Prejudice (1813)
She did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition. - Sense and Sensibility (1811)
His cold politeness, his ceremonious grace, were worse than anything. - Persuasion (1817)
I could not be happy with a man whose taste did not in every point coincide with my own.- Sense and Sensibility (1811)
Stupid men are the only ones worth knowing, after all.- Pride and Prejudice (1813)
Now they were as strangers; nay worse than strangers, for they could never become acquainted. - Persuasion (1817)

Next chapter will be more about loving him... Excited to read what Jane Austen thought of that subject....

"Pictures of perfection make me sick and wicked." - 

~Bella

It had to happen again!

Happy Friday the 13th... 

As many of you know, it's today, and for a lot of you, it is considered an unlucky day! Some developed a phobia out of it, paraskevidekatriaphobia or fear of Friday the 13th. If you are indeed one to worry about this unlucky day, I suggest you stay in bed all day to escape any bad luck that may come your way. Even though in 1976, New Yorker Daz Baxter was apparently so afraid of Friday the 13th decided the safest place to stay was his bed. However, Mr. Baxter was killed when the floor of his apartment block collapsed that day. Be careful, your bed may not just be the greatest idea!
If you do not care whatsoever, please do embrace your Friday as it is, indeed, just another Friday. 

I don't personally take pride in worrying about that day, but I still try to stay away from any "bad luck" situation. Sadly, a lot happens on Friday the 13th, for instance, in November 2015, in Paris, a series of terrorist attacks happened. In 2010, lightning struck 13 years of age boy from Suffolk on Friday the 13th at 13:13 or 1:30 P.M. That's called horrible luck! To go back to History, WWII, one of the most destructive of Nazi Germany bombing campaign occurred on the 13th, Queen Elizabeth, and King George VI were at tea. Five bombs struck the palace, on of which destroyed the interior of the Royal Chapel. Another ruptured a water main and three people were injured, one fatally. 

For music lovers, Friday, September 13th, 1996... I was just a few months old, the rapper Tupac dies from gunshot injuries in a Las Vegas hospital. That obviously made a lot of people think it was fake and some will say that he is still alive, hiding away. I don't know about this theory... And finally, to sum up, the tragedies... In 2012, cruising off the Tuscan coast turned chaotic as the Costa Concordia cruise ship struck a reef and began to tilt. It starts out by passengers evacuating by lifeboats, but let's just say that the ship ended up sinking and survivor had to be airlifted to shore by helicopter. A massive salvage operation took 19 hours to raise the ship from the reef where it came to rest. The captain was arrested for manslaughter and for abandoning the ship instead of directing the evacuation.  

Friday the 13th has some crazy stories, some believable, others not so much. Yet, many of us believe in the theory of having bad luck on the 13th... Some hotel such as the Carlton hotel in London misses out on the thirteenth floor.  Many don't want to travel that day leaving the flying company a bit "stuck".  The number of property transaction decline on Friday 13, don't sell or buy a house that day unless you want bad luck. 

But it also has some perks... It isn't all that bad... Some good things happened as well like: 
1. Hollywood arrived! The sign was unveiled on the 13th. At the time it was to advertise a housing development, now it's just one of the biggest tourist attraction!
2. Amazing day for the Friday the 13th film franchise! A lot of money was made! GOOD JOB! 

3. Athens took back from fascist powers in WWII! Amazing for history! Italy invaded Greece but they were pushed back by Greek forces! Then came the German who helped out and occupied Greece until help from the American, Russian, and British moved in driving the Germans north. That was in October 1944, on Friday the 13th, Athens was back to Greece and not fascism allowed! 
4.First equal opportunity employment act for government workers!!!!! President Johnson signed an executive order meant to rid the U.S government of discrimination on account of gender!

Anyways, Friday the 13th is a myth, nothing has proved it was an unlucky day. You believe it or you don't, it's up to you! Frankly, I don't care much, but I still manage to worry a little... 
This "unlucky day" originated by different ideas like:
Apparently, Friday is an unlucky day and 13 an unlucky number, you add them up and here you got Friday the 13th! 
In numerology 13 is considered to be an irregular number and is also the number of witches you need to form a coven (if you believe in that stuff).   

Obviously, everyone has a different story to back it up! Nothing dramatic happened that day for me, so I can't judge or take it into consideration. All I know is that I ain't working today and I believe I'll be safer home than at work with some terrible customers. Maybe I would have been mean to one of them.

Let's play the safe card! 

"On Friday the 13th, weird things are supposed to happen... Maybe I'll get in a relationship..."

~Bella

Another fight, another country...

If you are French, DO NOT TAKE THIS ARTICLE FOR YOU! Not everyone is the same! Please DO NOT judge MY opinion!  


Flash news,  I was born in France, spent about 10 years of my life in this country, and moved to the States right after! 

No, I won't be talking about how important the change was or how it proved me that living in another country might be beneficial! This article is about my birth country because let's be honest it's only my birth country! It's about being ashamed of being born in France! Not patriotic of me, I apologize in advance!

France is quite an old country with plenty of history, lots of corruption, and amazing food (can't deny that). People are on strike, often, or complain on other days.
I complain all the time, it's quite disturbing, to say the least, and I blame my culture behind this flaw. Might be my birth country, but I try to keep the French side of me away from everyone, even at work. 

I live in the US who happens to be the "terrible two", they act like 2 years old toddlers who think they can do anything they wish. They proved it with Trump's election. I won't go back to the story, what's done is done, can't change the past. But we can change some people's view about it! 

Last night, on a French press article about Obama leaving office and his last speech on Facebook, a woman (my dear mother) commented, quite simple, nothing mean for that matter. My mother isn't the politic type of person (I think I take from her), but she was right, we are sad to see such a president leave office. No one is perfect, humans make mistakes, but Obama did a lot of good, especially after a terrible, horrifying president like the one we had before, our famous Bush. Now, it's a French article, lots of blah blah to make people sleepy, but French people don't think so. 
Last night (for us), many commented back on my mother's post with amazing comments and so not nice comments as well. We can't be all on the same page... Life would be boring! I read a few comments this morning, saw a lot of displeased sayings, and I came to the conclusion that people, in general, are quite ignorant! 
We all say Americans are ignorant, which is part true, but we forget to mention how French people can also be ignorant, especially when it comes to politics, Germany, food, military, football (soccer) and I pass on the other subjects. 

I've been ashamed of being French for a while now, I've got reasons, but this little Facebook comment just went up the roof! People will deliberately be offended by truthful comments because they think they know more... Flash news, the news on TV, newspapers, or online news don't always tell you the truth or tell half of it just for the sake of it. Don't believe it all, please, it will save us from ignorant comments such as the ones I saw on Facebook. We are free to say what we think, free to tell our opinions, to argue, but when it comes to being ignorant and mean, keep it to yourself. What's the point of it? You will only be seen as an ignorant person that never left their country, a close minded person who got nothing to do all day except proving to the world how rude you can be. Comments such as " Le prix nobel de la paix qui a continué le boulot de Bush en tuant des civils innocents en Irak, Afghanistant, Libye, Syrie, Yemen, Pakistant....! Sans parler bien sure tous les afro-americains qui lui ont fait confiance!"
Roughly translates as," The Nobel peace price who continue Bush's work by killing innocent civilians in Irak, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Pakistan...Without obviously talking about all the African- Americans who believed him." 

When people talk like this without being ashamed of themselves, should really start reading books and move out of their country to realize that a lot of facts aren't at all true, these facts are just opinions! French people should start looking at their own country that seems to deteriorate at the speed of light! In a couple of years, France will only be another poor country just like in  Russia. 

When we hear France, we think food, wine, and how terrible they are at war. Military part, no one goes to the military anymore that's why we are so terrible at it, that's why they always will need some other country to save their poor asses! I don't want to be mean, but when you get put down by another French person, you only want to put them down as well and in the most civil way possible. I don't think I'm going to be polite or be open minded to arguments coming from any of them. This little Facebook comment was another drop, another mistake from them. It made me remember how I got the French community against me because I simply put out that the German team had played extremely well in a soccer game. It was like I was a traitor to my country. Just because I don't support France doesn't mean I'm a traitor, I won't support a country that is proving to the world how idiotic they are! And yes, in my opinion, they deserve Marine Le Pen as their new president! French people have everything, financial support, health support, yet they complain, yet they let strikes go on and on and on forever! With complete honesty, they should come to the US, see how it is to live in a different country where the financial support isn't available as much as France. But then again, French people like their little boring lives where half of their time is spent on Facebook playing games and insult, other people. 


I'm ashamed, I'm discouraged about France. After all the history, fighting and getting free from Kings and Queens... The country should be ashamed for electing a disastrous government, for believing the media, for being ignorant! Read, talk to older people to know what went on before they were born, and don't start arguments when you obviously don't know what you are talking about! There is no need to talk when you don't have enough arguments to back your story up! 

When I see France, my birth country, all I see is a country that lives in the past, that never move forward. When I see France, I see the hate against Germany, yes they have done a lot of horrifying things in the past, but it's in the past, don't blame the entire German community for Hitler's actions. By the way, he is dead, so no need to be bitter anymore, what's done is done. It's a lesson that shouldn't have been acted on, but it did happen. Don't you think Germans don't have to deal with their own history as well, that they didn't pay enough? It's easy to manipulate people, we see it every day, so start moving on and let your country be at their best instead of destroying it each day!

The level of ignorance is high, and it's only the start! I'm afraid of saying I'm French now, lucky, no one really thinks I look French anyways. Deep down, I'm suffering from French people's actions and saying. Every day I think to myself how lucky I am to be far from France because I wouldn't want to be there anymore. 

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."- Martin Luther King Jr.

~Bella

Some YouTubers meals...

As you may know already, I'm quite the fan of the SIDEMEN which are a group of YouTubers from Britain. They wrote a book about their past, games, routines, and even recipes. 

I thought I would share Simon (Miniminter) who happens to be my favorite YouTuber and Josh (Zerkaa)'s recipes.They cook for one another which I find sweet!

Simon's Meal for Simon and Josh

"As Josh and me are usually up and about at the same time we sometimes take turns to cook for each other. Sweet, I know, but it's not like we have a candlelit dinner or anything like that. Honest! Anyway, if you fancy a Josh and Simon special here you go:"


Ingredients:
Beef and red wine ravioli
Cheese and tomato tortellini
Tomato mascarpone sauce
Parmesan cheese
Cathedral City pre-grated cheddar cheese
Salt 
Italian herbs

Method:
1. Put the ravioli and tortellini into boiling water.
2. Add salt and Italian herbs.
3. Cook tomato mascarpone sauce.
4.Remove the water when the pasta is cooked and add the tomato mascarpone sauce.
5. Chuck a load of Parmesan cheese and pre-grated cheddar on top/
6. Keep adding cheese until there is a mini mountain.
7. Eat!

Josh's Meal for Josh and Simon

"Come to think of it, my meal for Simon is actually pretty similar to his meal for me. Maybe that's why we only like cooking for each other?"

Ingredients:
500g minced beef
Dolmio Bolognese sauce
Farfalle pasta 
Cheddar cheese
Parmesan Cheese

Method:
1. Cook the mince in a pan until it's brown.
2. Turn down the hob.
3. Add Dolmio sauce.
4. Boil water in a saucepan and add pasta.
5. Grate the cheese.
6. When the pasta is cooked remove the water from the saucepan with a colander.
7. Put the pasta and mince onto a plate.
8. Liberally sprinkle the Parmesan grated cheddar. 
9. Serve to a very happy Simon.

Both recipes are amazing, especially if you enjoy pasta as much as I do! They are both delicious, both slightly different which makes both recipes quite special! 

You should definitely try them if you are interested in having two dinners with two pasta recipes! 

"Life is a combination of magic and pasta." - Federico Fellini

~Bella

The Phone Anxiety...

The phone anxiety... I'm not entirely positive on the existence of such an anxiety, but it does to me...

Phone stress, when you feel uncomfortable waiting at the end of the line for multiple seconds for the others to respond, pick up the phone. That moment when you are on the phone but feel like you are talking to a robot because the other's person's voice changed. Sad truth! Kind of!
You know when you call the water district or even the electric company because you are having issues paying online, you have to call them. They don't let a representative respond automatically, you have to go through robotic voices and information before getting someone on the phone if they let you get one! What an amazing, wonderful, productive experience! The stressful situation if you have a difficult time on the phone. Not the best, but it's useful to have a phone nowaday!

Before saying you have phone anxiety, check if you have any of these symptoms:

- You feel extremely anxious when making or receiving calls?
- You push all the calls away?
- You worry about calling people because you think you going to bother them?
- You always think about when the person will say?
- You avoid making calls or have others call you?

Then when you are on the phone:

- You shake uncontrollably?
- You have a hard time concentrating?
- You feel your heart racing?

Overcoming Phone Phobia/Anxiety is not as easy as it may be, but there are steps to overcoming...

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) as cognitive restructuring and exposure training can help your thoughts and practice feared behaviors. If you are more a self-help type of person...

- Remember pauses are a normal part of conversations.
-Remember yourself businesses want you to call. (service lines).
- Know you're not expected to be perfect.
-Recall successful past phone calls.
- Set goal, baby steps.



Don't be afraid of answering the phone, call people if you want to... Technology can be scary, but people are worse...

"It's a phobia. It has no logic. You can't talk me out of it, so just go away." -Anita Blake

~Bella

Shiver- Lucy Rose

New favorite song, a sad one, but can't get enough of it! I've always been more attracted to British music, but this is beyond anything I've listened to! I think you'll have to deal with her for a while cause I'm planning on posting one of her songs once in a while... But let's start with the one I absolutely love! 

Shiver by Lucy Rose 

We broke

Everything that was right

We both enjoyed a good fight

And we sewed 

All the holes we had to breathe

To make the other one leave

And I loved the way you looked at me

And I miss the way you made me feel

When we were alone 

When we were alone

And I'll shiver like I used to 

And I'll leave him just for you

And I'll shiver like I used to

Just for you

And we stole

Every moment we had to make the other one feel bad

And we hoped that we could be what we knew 

It never turn out to be real

And I loved the way you looked at me

And I miss the way you made me feel

When we were alone 

When we were alone

And I'll shiver like I used to 

And I'll leave him just for you

And I'll shiver like I used to 

Just for you

And if we turn back time 

Could we learn to live right

And if we turn back time 

Could we learn to live right

And if we turn back time 

Could we learn to live right

And if we turn back time 

Could we learn 

And I'll shiver like I used to 

And I'll leave him just for you

And I'll shiver like used to

Just for you

Like I used to

-Fin

~Bella

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It has arrived! FINALLY!

As many of us have resolutions, goals, or already made a calendar with plenty activities on, I'm starting to get all my things back together, slowly...
No, I won't be going back to school, yet, and no, I'm positive on the driving, my phobia is staying a little longer... Till I finally accept the fact that Californians can't drive and that won't be a piece of cake, sorry!
At least, I'm trying to make an effort with the resolutions, and a few more goals that I've been trying to accomplish throughout the years, but never got my head around it all. For example, each year, I let my hopeless romantic self -come up and bring me to the conclusion that it will be the year I meet the guy, the one that will be able to stay... I'm young, yet, each year I have this slight wish, goal that it will be the year. I sound extremely desperate, please don't judge, it won't do anything. Pathetic would be a great way to describe me right this moment. The other little "goal" that I've been trying to work on for quite a while now is accepting the change in my accent. As many of you know, I've got that accent. At the beginning it sounded French, I hated it, then it became less of an obvious this, but still there was that hint of European that would back it up from time to time. Now, it sounds like I'm speaking with a British/Scottish/Irish accent that to be fairly honest I appreciate more, even though no one can tell where I actually come from. Many thinks I'm part British, not going to lie, I like it... You see when you live in a different country, from an European background, listening to British or German music, watch movies in Italian, or even put on some of these British YouTubers on, talk to the owner of Pickles and Swiss (who by the way has the same problem as me with his British accent, he's British though), and speak French at home or even at work... The accent has to change, switch as the language does, and so on. After a while, you speak with a slightly odd accent that makes people wonder where you are from. It's quite fun to lie to tourist on where exactly where in the world you're from. I take pride of laughing at them afterward. But, it's difficult to accept the fact that your accent is odd, and not sexy whatsoever! I'm going to start working on that goal again this year to fully accept the change in this terrible accent of mine.

Then this year, I made a new type of goal that I only thought off a couple of hours ago!

You know those excuses you use whenever you don't want to go to a special dinner so you invent some type of excuse for not going... Stop lying to yourself, we've all done it, plenty times! Excuses are part of our life, no matter what, even if you try, we make excuses for about EVERYTHING, from not going to dinners to why you were late to work. We are humans, no shame for it, don't blame yourself for any excuses, after all, they will stay!
To me, excuses are part of each human being, but I would like to try on working on the making excuses for everyone else's behaviors, saying, or even actions, thoughts, or beliefs, emotions, and feelings. I want to slow down on making excuses for everyone. Sounds simple, right? Well, it's not!

I've always tried to make sense of everything, of everyone's behaviors or emotions. It's insane how much I want to blame the reality on some fake, lame excuses. If someone doesn't respond, I'll just be like, "Oh, something came up and they had to go" or "They never received my texts". When in reality, they don't like me and won't talk, end of story. Instead of seeing the truth and getting hurt, I blame things around the situation. I may be right at times, though, sometimes people happen to be busy or they saw your text and started writing back but forgot to send. Stupid, but it does happen. Don't lose hope, not every excuse you make will be thrown out, some are real! 

Everyone deserves a second chance, the benefit of the doubt, once or twice to say the least. But there comes a time when you cannot keep making excuses for people, over and over again. Some people don't deserve your excuses, your time, your emotions! There are times when people need to grow up and take chances, stop ignoring and start speaking up. Stop using the "What if" so much because it doesn't help anyone, doesn't chance the course of life! 
Making excuses for your family member who always finds a way to skip Christmas dinner with the rest of the family, or the guy that you meet a couple weeks ago hasn't called yet... It doesn't help you, it hurts you, and instead of moving on with your life, you're stuck with the unbearable fact that you are trying to make something happy when it's the complete opposite! 

To summarize this whole post, the new year has arrived, and somehow this means new goals, or in my case, old goals back again! 

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." - Chinese Proverb

~Bella